Author: Marvo

REVIEW: Quaker Life Strawberry Crunchtime Multigrain Cereal

Marvo 7 Comments

Quaker Life Strawberry Crunchtime Cereal

I’ve been having nightmares ever since I started eating the Quaker Life Strawberry Crunchtime Multigrain Cereal. Just look at the closeup picture below, but don’t stare at it too long or else you’ll be having scary dreams as well.

Maybe I’ve read too many issues of Fangoria Magazine, but I think they look like the deformed faces of evil demonic spirits who want to devour my soul. Yeah, they’re smiling, but that’s because feasting on some of my life force will make them happy.

Oh geez, I gotta turn the box around because they’re freaking me out again!

I really wish Life Crunchtime Cereal came in normal, boring square pieces, much like regular Life Cereal. Or what my imagination thinks Kellogg’s Honey Smacks look like. Or, at least, a shape that doesn’t remind me of Scream‘s Ghostface.

You’d think with the Highlights for Children-like puzzle on the back of its box, Life Crunchtime Cereal is supposed to appeal to children, but it’s really more of a cereal being marketed to moms who are worried about their children eating too much sugar and not enough fiber. I don’t know of any children who would get excited about the “30% less sugar than the leading kids’ cereals” printed on the front of the box, but I know of moms who would.

What are these leading kids’ cereals? If you happen to be the in cereal aisle with one of those sugar-fearing moms, the leading kids cereals are probably the ones her child brings to her and instantly rejects with a loud “No! Put that back!” These cereal might include Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, which has 11 grams of sugar per 3/4 cup serving; General Mills’ Honey Nut Cheerios, which has 9 grams, and Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries, which has 11 grams of sugar.

Quaker Life Strawberry Crunchtime Cereal Closeup

Speaking of Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries, that’s what Life Strawberry Crunchtime smelled like. However, I shouldn’t be surprised by this since Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries is also made by Quaker. Its flavor, however, was significantly less Crunch Berry-like. It initially tasted like nothing, but then several moments later the berry flavor, which didn’t taste like strawberry, lightly stroked my tongue. The strawberry flavor came, but in the form of an artificial strawberry aftertaste that lingered in my mouth for a little while.

For a cereal that has just six grams of sugar per serving, Life Strawberry Crunchtime Cereal is decent. If you’re expecting a Froot Loops- or Trix-level of fruitiness, your expectations will not be met. Just like Froot Loops, Life Strawberry Crunchtime Cereal doesn’t contain any fruit and is made using natural flavor, but unlike Froot Loops, it’s also made with artificial flavor.

Overall, I can’t say I’ll be picking up another box of Life Strawberry Crunchtime Cereal because its flavor doesn’t impress the sugar-addicted kid in me and their shape totally freaks out the easily scared adult in me, but, with its six grams of fiber (23% RDA), six grams of sugar, and vitamin content, I would recommend it to parents looking for a healthier breakfast cereal for their children.

Wait a minute…six grams of fiber, six grams of sugar, and is an excellent source of vitamin B6?

6-6-6!

It is evil!

(Nutrition Facts – 3/4 cup (cereal only) – 110 calories, 15 calories from fat, 1.5 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0.5 grams of polyunsaturated fat, 0.5 grams of monounsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 90 milligrams of sodium, 75 milligrams of potassium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of fiber, 6 grams of sugar, 15 grams of other carbohydrates, 2 grams of protein, and a bunch of vitamins and minerals.)

Item: Quaker Life Strawberry Crunchtime Multigrain Cereal
Price: $2.99
Size: 7.7 ounces
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 6 out of 10
Pros: Good for a cereal that has just six grams of sugar per serving. Provides 100% RDA of folic acid. Six grams of fiber.
Cons: Doesn’t contain real fruit. Puzzle on back of box is kind of difficult if you have morning brain. Cereal shape looks like deformed faces of evil demonic spirits. What my imagination thinks Honey Smacks look like.

REVIEW: DiGiorno Three Meat Pizza Pizza Dipping Strips

Marvo 6 Comments

DiGiorno Pizza Dipping Strips Three Meat Pizza

Pizza Hut did it!

I couldn’t help but yell those four words and rip off South Park when I saw the DiGiorno Three Meat Pizza Pizza Dipping Strips. As you can imagine, this frightened my fellow shoppers in the frozen food aisle and caused them to scurry themselves and their shopping carts away from me.

That was not the first time I yelled the words “Pizza Hut did it!” in public while looking at a DiGiorno product. I also did it when I discovered DiGiorno’s Pizza and Wyngs, DiGiorno’s Pizza and Breadsticks, and I do it whenever I see DiGiorno’s Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizza. It’s as if Pizza Hut is DiGiorno’s R&D Department.

DiGiorno’s Pizza Dipping Strips is made up of 12 pull-apart strips of pizza and comes with a container of marinara sauce and another of garlic dipping sauce. I picked up the Three Meat Pizza one, but it also comes in Pepperoni and Four Cheese varieties. The three meats are sausage, pepperoni, and beef.

Even though they were connected by just crust, the dipping strips weren’t super easy to pull apart. Or maybe I’m as horrible at pulling than a one-legged ox. After burning my fingers trying to split the strips apart, I decided to break out my pizza cutter.

DiGiorno Pizza Dipping Strips Three Meat Pizza Closeup

I prefer DiGiorno frozen pizzas over Red Baron, Tombstone, Totino’s, Freschetta, and a few others, so it’s no surprise I enjoyed the pizza part of the Pizza Dipping Strips. I think DiGiorno’s tasty pizza sauce is what sets it apart from other frozen pizzas, but I also think their crust is a bit too thick. Another slight issue I had with the dipping strips is the amount of pepperoni. Each strip had just one lonely slice of pepperoni. Although, I will admit this is easy to fix by stealing the pepperoni from other dipping strips when your fellow eaters aren’t looking.

What about the dipping sauces? Well, let me just say, one is better than the other and they’re quite watery.

Preparing the dipping sauces is more complex than baking the pizza, which is pretty much just stick pizza in oven, take pizza out of oven, and enjoy. The steps to get the sauces ready are: place sauce packets in hot tap water for 4-5 minutes, tear open packets, squeeze each sauce into separate microwave-safe bowls, heat one sauce for 20-30 seconds in the microwave, heat the other sauce for 20-30 seconds in the microwave, and enjoy.

The garlic dipping sauce is not very garlicy. If you enjoy the garlic sauce from Domino’s or Papa John’s, this DiGiorno garlic sauce will disappoint. Its garlic flavor is mild enough that I would not be afraid to make out with someone after eating it. Despite my not so glowing words, I have to say the garlic sauce is better than the marinara dipping sauce, which has very little flavor at all. As I mentioned earlier, I like DiGiorno’s pizza sauce, so I’m disappointed their marinara sauce is dull.

If there’s one positive thing I could say about the sauces, it would be that each packet has a lot of sauce. When other eater weren’t looking, I was not only stealing their pepperoni, I was also double, triple, and quadruple dipping into both sauces. And despite all of that unsanitary dipping, there was still a lot of sauce left.

The DiGiorno Pizza Dipping Strips is a good idea, although an old idea, but the sauces bring everything down. I do like the idea of pull apart pieces and would like to see DiGiorno do that with their regular round pizzas.

I would also like to see DiGiorno’s combine pizza with cinnamon sticks, much like Pizza Hut does with their $10 Dinner Box. Oh wait, it’s already happened.

Pizza Hut did it!

(Nutrition Facts – 2 dipping strips – 360 calories, 140 calories from fat, 16 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat*, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 880 milligrams of sodium, 39 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 3 grams of sugar, and 15 grams of protein. Marinara Sauce – 2 Tbsp. – 20 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 125 milligrams of sodium, 5 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 3 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein. Garlic Sauce – 2 Tbsp. – 60 calories, 7 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 300 milligrams of sodium, 1 gram of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 0 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.)

*uses partially hydrogenated oil

Item: DiGiorno Three Meat Pizza Pizza Dipping Strips
Price: $6.99
Size: 34.2 ounces
Purchased at: Safeway
Rating: 6 out of 10
Pros: Pizza is good. Pizza in strip form is easier to eat than pizza slice form. Stealing pepperoni. THREE MEATS! Lots of dipping sauce. Pizza is easy to prepare.
Cons: Garlic sauce isn’t very garlicy. Marinara sauce is bland. Would’ve liked more pepperoni. Having your pepperoni stolen. Getting caught double, triple, or quadruple dipping. Copying Pizza Hut.

NEWS: Ben & Jerry’s Releases New Flavors and Greek Frozen Yogurt

Marvo 9 Comments

Ben & Jerry's truck

Update: Click here to read our Ben & Jerry’s Greek Frozen Yogurt review

On Second Scoop recently discovered some of Ben & Jerry’s new flavors at his local grocery store.

The first flavor, Chocolate Therapy, isn’t new new, it debuted in 2005 as a limited batch and it’s been available at Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops for years, but it’s back in pint form. The concoction is made up of chocolate ice cream with chocolate cookies and swirls of chocolate pudding ice cream. The second flavor, Chocolate Nougat Crunch, is definitely new new and it consists of sweet cream ice cream with fudge covered wafer cookies and a chocolate nougat swirl.

Ben & Jerry’s also released a line of Greek Frozen Yogurt and Junk Food Guy reviewed the Strawberry Shortcake flavor, which is strawberry Greek frozen yogurt with shortbread pieces mixed in. In the review, he also mentions other flavors available at his local Giant store, like Raspberry Chocolate and Blueberry Graham Cracker.

According to this post on Houston on the Cheap, Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop are replacing their frozen yogurt with the new Greek frozen yogurt line. The flavors include Vanilla, Raspberry Fudge Chunk, Blackberry Vanilla Graham Cracker, and Banana Peanut Butter.

While the two ice cream flavors are nice, I’m excited about the Ben & Jerry’s Greek Frozen Yogurt line, especially the Banana Peanut Butter flavor. Oh, if only Elvis was alive today, I’m sure he would also be excited about the Banana Peanut Butter flavor.

Image via flickr user lsiegert / CC BY 2.0

NEWS: Get Your Spoons and Gym Memberships Ready For This Year’s Limited Edition Häagen-Dazs Flavors

Marvo 1 Comment

05.Signs.Chinatown.WDC.3feb06

I believe Ben & Jerry’s fun flavor names make them perfectly fine to eat straight out of the container in my underwear. But when it comes to eating Häagen-Dazs’ sophisticated flavors, I feel it’s necessary to serve them in glass bowls with pants on. And this year’s Limited Edition Häagen-Dazs flavors are no different.

From now until the end of the year, you’ll be able to enjoy the following four new Limited Edition Häagen-Dazs flavors:

Coconut Macaroon (available from February to September) is made up of soft, chewy coconut macaroon cookies folded into coconut ice cream. Junk Food Guy has a review of them.

Spiced Caramel Biscuit (available from February to December) consists of cinnamon biscuit crumbles blended into caramel ice cream.

Vanilla Bean Espresso (available from February to December) combines espresso with vanilla ice cream, but you probably knew that by reading its name.

Salted Caramel Truffle (available from February to December) brings together sweet-cream ice cream, salted caramel ribbons, and chocolatey truffles.

All Häagen-Dazs Limited Edition flavors are available in their specially labeled purple containers that aren’t quite a pint. If you can’t find them at the supermarket, they’re also available at Häagen-Dazs shops.

Image via flickr user ElvertBarnes / CC BY 2.0

REVIEW: Nabisco Limited Edition Birthday Cake Oreo

Marvo 23 Comments

Nabisco Limited Edition Birthday Cake Oreo

If you think about it, Oreo cookies are like the cockroach of the cookie world. They’re both dark on the outside, make a satisfying crunch when crushed, they’ve been around for what seems forever, and they may never die.

This year, Oreo turned 100 years old and to celebrate Nabisco released their Limited Edition Birthday Cake Oreo. Yes, Oreo can now be considered a centenarian, if it was human.

Also, if it was human, Oreo would probably be given a shout out on The Today Show by Willard Scott and/or be used in a segment to fill airtime on the local news, which will most definitely involve the centenarian being asked the obligatory question, “What is the secret to your longevity?”

Of course, the secret to Oreo’s long life is the fact they’re a sweet little treat adored by millions and the millions of dollars Nabisco has spent in Oreo advertising over the past ten decades.

Sadly, don’t expect a long life for Limited Edition Birthday Cake Oreo because, obviously, it’s a limited edition variety.

Nabisco Limited Edition Birthday Cake Oreo Closeup

At a quick glance, the limited edition Oreo cookie looks like any regular Oreo, but one of the chocolate cookies has a special birthday design that sort of reminds me of a $100 black poker chip. And if you twist a chocolate cookie off, you’ll see the white filling has colored candy sprinkles in it.

After opening the Limited Edition Birthday Cake Oreo package for the first time, an overpowering sweet aroma of cake frosting rushed out of the bag. It’s an aromatic bum rush I imagine I’ll experience again on my wedding day when my future bride grabs the piece of wedding cake I just cut and smushes it into my face.

While it has a strong cake frosting scent, its flavor is too much like a regular Oreo cookie. If I were to twist off one of the chocolate cookies and discard it, the cake frosting flavor gets a bit more noticeable when I eat the non-sandwich version of the cookie. It’s disappointing the frosting flavor wasn’t stronger, because, after all, the frosting is the best part of a birthday cake.

The white creme filling in the Limited Edition Birthday Cake Oreo is softer than regular Oreo cookies. The amount of filling is more closer to Double Stuf than regular stuf, so you’re getting less cookies per package than with regular Oreo cookies, but that’s been the case with almost all of the limited edition Oreo varieties. The candy sprinkles add a little extra crunch to the cookie, much like the candy pieces do in the Limited Edition Candy Cane Oreo.

The Limited Edition Birthday Cake Oreo cookies are a slight disappointment because of its flavor. Don’t get me wrong, they are quite tasty, but I really wished it had a stronger birthday cake flavor.

(Disclaimer: We received this package of Limited Edition Birthday Cake Oreo for free from Nabisco. If you’re looking for Birthday Cake Oreos, they’ve been seen at Walmart and Target.)

(Nutrition Facts – 2 cookies – 140 calories, 60 calories from fat, 6 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat*, 1 gram of polyunsaturated fat, 3 grams of monounsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 110 milligrams of sodium, 40 milligrams of potassium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 13 grams of sugar, and less than 1 gram of protein.)

*made with partially hydrogenated oil

Item: Nabisco Limited Edition Birthday Cake Oreo
Price: FREE
Size: 10.5 ounces
Purchased at: N/A
Rating: 6 out of 10
Pros: Tasty. Oreo is 100 years old. Candy sprinkles add a little extra crunch. Living until you’re 100 years old. Milk dunkable. Getting a shout out by Willard Scott.
Cons: Slightly disappointing. Frosting flavor needed to be stronger. Tasted similar to regular Oreo cookies. Made with partially hydrogenated oil.